MLB Teams That Have Already Surpassed the Reigning Champion Giants
When we last saw the San Francisco Giants, they were winning their third World Series in five seasons. The top of the baseball world was all theirs.
But nowadays? Eh, not as much. At least on paper, there are teams that look better.
Maybe that sounds like a hot take, but it's really not. The Giants only won 88 games in the regular season last year, and they didn't have the best offseason. They lost Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse to free agency, and their whiff on James Shields looms large with Tim Hudson behind schedule in his recovery from ankle surgery.
On the bright side, the Giants aren't an afterthought. Projections at Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs put them among MLB's better teams. And though plenty of clubs are on the Giants' level, the list of teams on the next level up is relatively short.
As I see it, only seven clubs clearly have the defending champs beat on paper...
7. Toronto Blue Jays
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The Blue Jays admittedly don't seem like an obvious heavyweight at first glance. But maybe more so than any other team, they look better as you look closer.
At the least, they should score a ton of runs. They already had Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Reyes, and they've added two more impact bats in Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin.
But the team won't just feel the additions of those two on offense. Donaldson and Martin are also among the best defenders at third base and catcher, respectively, and Martin gets bonus points for also being one of the best pitch-framers in baseball.
Blue Jays pitchers are going to love throwing to him.
That's one reason to be optimistic about Toronto's pitching, but it's not the only one. The Jays rotation has two innings-eaters in R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle and two upside arms in Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchison. FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan can demonstrate how the latter has a new slider that hitters should be frightened of and how the former might have the best arsenal of weapons of any pitcher.
The one thing I haven't been sure of is whether Toronto's bullpen is going to be good enough. But with manager John Gibbons telling Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star that he's leaning toward Aaron Sanchez as the closer, I feel a lot better about it. After debuting to a 1.09 ERA last year, the hard-throwing right-hander will be a legit breakout candidate if he leaves camp as the Jays closer.
So don't sleep on the Blue Jays. They've been trying to join baseball's elite for the last couple of years, and they should be ready.
6. St. Louis Cardinals
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We last saw the Cardinals falling to the Giants in the National League Championship Series. But unlike the Giants, the Cardinals have made improvements since then.
Their big offseason catch was Jason Heyward, whose value goes well beyond what his inconsistent hitting would suggest. Heyward is at least an above-average hitter, and he further boosts his value with quality baserunning and superb defense. He's the total package.
The Cardinals also got Jordan Walden in the Heyward trade, and he looks like a solid eighth-inning bridge to Trevor Rosenthal. And with Mark Reynolds and his lefty-killing bat joining Heyward, the Cardinals lineup looks deeper and more balanced than the one that sputtered through 2014.
If there's a concern with this Cardinals team, it's how well its rotation will hold up. Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha are both coming off injuries. John Lackey (36) is old, and Carlos Martinez profiles better as a reliever than as a starter. In light of all these things, the bust potential is definitely there.
But you can either be scared of that or excited about this rotation's potential. Wainwright and Wacha are going to be an elite one-two punch if they stay healthy, and Lackey and Lance Lynn will keep the good times rolling if Lackey turns the clock back to 2013 and Lynn picks up where he left off in 2014.
In all, here's the Cardinals in a nutshell: There are things worth being pessimistic about, but there are far more positives.
5. Los Angeles Angels
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After the offseason they've had, it's OK if your first instinct is to assume the Angels are doomed to plummet from last year's 98-win peak in 2015.
For one, they jettisoned a steady-as-they-come second baseman in Howie Kendrick without replacing him with anything solid. More recently, Josh Hamilton's shoulder betrayed him, and according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, it's going to take longer than expected to heal.
Then you can factor in how Albert Pujols was actually just OK for most of 2014 and is only getting older. For that matter, you can say the same thing about David Freese, Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson.
But hey, the Angels still have Mike Trout. And if Kole Calhoun takes another step forward while Matt Joyce accounts for Hamilton's lost production, Trout won't have to carry the Angels offense on his own.
Meanwhile, on the mound, that Garrett Richards is ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery is welcome news. He and Matt Shoemaker should be a great rotation duo, and the unit as a whole will be strong if Weaver and Wilson eat innings, while Andrew Heaney makes good on his talent at the back end.
And don't overlook the bullpen. It was among baseball's best in the second half of 2014, and it hasn't changed much since then. Most notably, Huston Street is still there to take care of the ninth.
It's admittedly hard to see the Angels winning 98 games again, but they have enough weapons to finish among MLB's top teams.
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4. Boston Red Sox
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The Boston Red Sox are the only club on this countdown that wasn't a good team in 2014. The Sox were quite the opposite, in fact, losing 91 games and finishing last in the AL East.
The 2015 Red Sox, however, couldn't look more different.
Start with the offense. It was largely terrible last year, but the signings of Rusney Castillo, Hanley Ramirez and former Giants star Pablo Sandoval have completely transformed it. Add in breakout candidates Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, incumbent stars David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli and considerable depth on the side, and the Red Sox offense could be the envy of MLB in 2015.
Where disagreement is liable to take place is over Boston's pitching staff, which notably lacks a true No. 1 starter. But in Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz, the Sox have four starters who could be solid No. 2/3 types, which is plenty good enough for their offense.
That just leaves their bullpen, which could be adventurous if Koji Uehara can't recover from a late-season swoon in 2014. But if he does, what otherwise looks like a fairly deep bullpen will be anchored by a closer who had a 0.89 ERA and a ratio of 129 strikeouts to nine walks across 101 innings between 2013 and 2014.
So in no time at all, the Red Sox have gone from a mess to a potential monster. If all their pieces come together in 2015, they'll have a chance to make a run at 95-100 wins.
3. Seattle Mariners
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With an 87-75 record, the 2014 Mariners were this close to being a playoff team. And when you look at what they were packing, it's no wonder they were.
On the mound, the Mariners were one of the best in the business. Felix Hernandez led a starting pitching staff that tied for second in the American League in ERA, and Fernando Rodney led a hard-throwing bullpen that finished first (by a mile) in all of MLB in ERA.
Hernandez, Rodney and all the other key pitchers who made those performances possible will be returning in 2015. If they pick up where they left off, the Mariners will only need an improved performance from their offense to take the next step.
Nelson Cruz should have a big hand in making that happen. Even if he doesn't repeat his 40-homer 2014, he should be a massive upgrade for a cleanup spot that produced the league's lowest OPS. And with Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager on either side of him, the heart of Seattle's order suddenly looks as dangerous as it's been in a long time.
One gets the sense that the Mariners are being overlooked on the national landscape, but they have pretty much everything they need to end their long postseason drought in 2015.
2. Washington Nationals
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After winning 96 games in 2014, the Nationals didn't have to do anything of note this offseason to put themselves in a position to dominate in 2015.
But they did anyway, signing 2013 American League Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to a seven-year, $210 million contract. With him joining Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez, a rotation that was already baseball's best now looks like it has historic potential.
"It was almost jaw-dropping," Gonzalez told Tom Schad of The Washington Times. "Expect the unexpected, but in baseball you never know what's going to happen. And that was just a perfect sign of it. Seeing him come over here, and especially with the rotation we've got, it's just a bigger smile on all of our faces."
One notable player the Nationals lost this winter was Adam LaRoche. But if Ryan Zimmerman adapts well to first base and can stay healthy, Washington won't miss LaRoche. And even if Zimmerman doesn't stay healthy, subpar first base production shouldn't be a problem in a lineup that includes Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth, Denard Span and Ian Desmond.
The one thing that looks shaky is Washington's bullpen, as no one outside of closer Drew Storen inspires much confidence. But while that could hurt the Nationals in the postseason, it shouldn't in the regular season.
By the end of it, don't be surprised if this Nationals team is staring down 100 wins.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
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Here's something Giants fans don't want to hear: The Dodgers are pretty darn good.
To be sure, they're drastically different from the 2014 Dodgers. Their main strength was their offense, which got to be particularly strong in the second half once Matt Kemp caught fire. And on days when Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke was pitching, the Dodgers were basically unbeatable.
This year's team figures to be different...in a good way.
One thing the Dodgers didn't do well in 2014 was play defense. With Yasmani Grandal, Jimmy Rollins, Howie Kendrick and Joc Pederson taking over up the middle, they should do that a lot better. The back of their rotation should also be better now that it has Brandon McCarthy, and a bullpen that was sorely in need of upgrades got a couple in Joel Peralta and Chris Hatcher.
While the Dodgers offense likely won't be as explosive with Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon all missing, it should still be strong. It could even be great if Pederson makes good on his talent and Yasiel Puig turns the clock back to the first half of 2014.
If it's star power you want, it's the Nationals who are the class of MLB. But if you want a perfectly balanced team, that honor belongs to the Dodgers.
Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.
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